A European Commission report published on November 18 2008 says that workers from the countries that joined the European Union in 2004 and 2007 have had a positive impact on member states' economies and have not led to serious disturbances on their labour markets.

"Workers from the EU-8 (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) as well as Bulgaria and Romania have made a significant contribution to sustained economic growth, without significantly displacing local workers or driving down their wages," the EC report said.

Both for the EU as a whole and for most individual countries, labour flows have been limited compared to the size of labour markets and to inflows from non-EU countries.

"The right to work in another country is a fundamental freedom for people in the EU. Mobile workers move to where there are jobs available and this benefits the economy," said Vladim?r ?pidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.

"I call on member states to consider whether the temporary restrictions on free movement are still needed given the evidence presented in our report today," he said.

"Lifting restrictions now would not only make economic sense but would also help reduce problems such as undeclared work and bogus self-employment."

The EC report said that mobile workers from Bulgaria, Romania and the EU-8 had made a significant contribution to sustained economic growth over recent years, by addressing labour market shortages, without making heavy demands on welfare states.

"At the same time, there is little evidence that workers from the new Member States have displaced local workers or driven down their wages in a serious way, even in those countries where the inflows have been greatest, although there have been some temporary adjustment problems in specific areas."

Member States' population statistics and labour force survey data show that the average population share of nationals of the countries that joined in 2004 (EU-10) living in the EU-15 rose from 0.2 per cent in 2003 to 0.5 per cent by the end of 2007.

During the same period, the population share of Bulgarians and Romanians living in the EU-15 increased from 0.2 per cent to 0.5 per cent.

The majority of mobile workers from the new Member States which joined in 2004 - mostly from Poland, Lithuania and Slovakia - went to Ireland and the UK, while Spain and Italy have been the main destination countries for Romanians.

"Yet, with the exception of Ireland, post-enlargement flows from the new to the old Member States have been significantly outnumbered by recent immigration of non-EU nationals. Evidence also suggests that many EU mobile workers go to another member state on a temporary basis but do not intend to stay permanently."

The report said that in the wake of "current economic developments" it was likely that a possible decline in labour demand would reduce labour flows within the EU.

"Recent economic slowdowns in some countries have already led to a substantial reduction in new entries, in parallel to an increase in return migration. This is a sign that free labour mobility is self-regulatory by nature and provides a much needed flexibility in both directions: workers go to where there is demand for labour and many leave again when employment conditions become less favourable," the report said.

When the EU expanded in 2004, some of the 15 existing EU countries were worried they would be flooded by workers from eastern and central Europe.

So they were allowed to temporarily restrict access to their labour markets, making it harder for newcomers to work there. The same restrictions were imposed on Bulgaria and Romania when they joined in 2007.

According to Bulgaria's and Romania's Accession Treaty, the so-called first phase of the transitional arrangements, which allow member states to temporarily restrict the free access of workers to their labour markets, will finish on December 31 2008.

Member States need to decide by then whether to lift national restrictions. These were introduced in January 2007 by 15 of the EU-25 member states (except Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia).

Neither Bulgaria nor Romania imposed reciprocal restrictions on labour flows in the opposite direction.

The so-called second phase of the transitional arrangements will end in April 2009 for the EU-8.

Four member states (Germany, Austria, Belgium and Denmark) currently continue to restrict the access of workers from eight of the EU10 Member States to a varying degree Restrictions can be maintained after April 30 2009 only if there is a serious disturbance (or threat thereof) to the labour market.

Today, nationals from the new eastern member states make up around 0.9 per cent of the population of the western EU members. In 2003, the figure was 0.4 per cent. By comparison, the percentage of non-EU nationals living in the 15 original EU countries has grown from 3.7 per cent in 2003 to 4.5 per cent today.

Most eastern EU nationals working in the west are from Poland, Lithuania and Slovakia, and their top destinations are Ireland and the UK, two countries that opened their labour markets straight away. Romanians tend to work in Spain and Italy, according to the EC.